Saturday Snapshots - Mermaid Theme

This is my first time to link-up with Run! Mrs. Nelson's got the camera!  Saturday Snapshots.

Now, if you read my blog, you know I'm going to do a Mermaid Theme this year in my classroom.  

Well, my Mermaid Theme was born a long time ago.  It began at My Girl's 3rd B-Day Party.  

I thought I'd share pics.   

Now, the vision began when my husband wanted to create a coral reef!  

Yes, he said it not me.  He loves sea turtles.

So, it all began with me looking for an invitation.

Of course, I didn't take a pic of ours, but this is what I bought.

These are from LivingLocturo's Birthday Printables. I loved the modest mermaid.
I used the same font and addressed the invites - everyone loved that detail.

 
This is our smaller version of the Coral Reef!  Our fireplace is see-through, so my dad stood on the other side and put toys onto the fishing pole when the kids went fishing.

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These were the goodies that the kiddos got when they went fishing.
They are all Dollar Tree Finds.  The Toothbrush is a Dolphin and so is the Bath Sponge.


My Birthday Princess Fishing.


This was easy, but a huge hit!  Even the boys loved grabbing a necklace out of the Treasure Chest.

 I tried to make bubbles out of tissue paper poms.  We put cups into the Treasure Chests.

On the windows, you can see I hung fishies made out of plates and poms.

YUM!

This cute little party has inspired my love of mermaids and is now inspiring my classroom decor!

If you ever hang out in the TpT Forums, you probably know Tiny Toes. 

 Well, she's having a Big Ol' Giveaway.    

I'm giving away my School Supply Clipart.

Be sure to check back Monday...I've got a mega surprise giveaway planned!

This Little Piggy is Heading to the Hill Country!

Clipart & Coffee Talk with The Meekmoose

It's Thursday, Join me for some Coffee Talk about Clipart.  

Today we're having Iced Coffee since it's blazing H-O-T Outside!!

Today's artist is Heather from The Meek Moose.  I (virtually) met Heather when she commented on my How-to-Video Series.  I had just put out my video, "How to make Long Pins" and I was nervous about putting it out in the bloggie world.  Heather responded and told me that it helped her make her first pin!  How cool is that?

So, she sent me a pic of her pin (she also uses my fonts...which I love) and I was blown away!  Hers was by far better than any of mine.

Heather and her sister, Traci (who lives in New Zealand) work together virtually and create their clip art. That kind of blows my mind. I can barely crete clipart on my very own computer, much less collaborate with someone else across the world!

They signed up for the Clipart Challenge and worked with Jess from the Collaborative Classroom. Jess made an Early Addition Math FREEBIE with their HuGe Tropical Aquarium Clipart.

Around the Globe in 80 Ways - Head in the Clouds Package is their newest clipart and in my opinion...absolutely hilarious!  An armadillo in a hot air balloon - does it get any funnier?

Heather has decided to give 2 lucky people their own, Winner's Choice!  If you win, she'll even do a custom color set of her football clipart (she did a Cowboys set for me;)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This Little Piggy wants to know...do you prefer hot or iced coffee??

A Pic Heavy Monday Made It

This Monday I'm super psyched to show off what I made.  If you were able to muster enough energy to craft this week...link up at 4th Grade Frolics.

I totally bought into the Mermaid Theme.  Luckily, I used blue and green last year...so most of my classroom stuff doesn't have to change too much.

Here goes-- this week is pic heavy...be warned!

Now that My Girl's hair is growing out, headbands don't stay in anymore.
So, I made them into hair clips!  Very easy.
You can buy the alligator clips from any hobby store or beauty supply store.

I went shopping!  If you read my blog, you know I hate it!
 I prefer to go with a friend just so I'm not bored, but my shopping buddy was out of town for the 4th.
I sent her pics instead!

No, I don't have a Cricut or a Silhouette, so I trace the letters from a printout and cut them by hand.
I love how this turned out.  They match the cute $2 pics from the dollar store!
You can't tell, but the pics are 3-D, not paper.

At my daughter's previous school, they often sent home her water paintings that were cut into a shape for the season. This gave me an idea!  When I saw this purple-turquoise-glittery painting... I knew it had to be a Mermaid!  The pictures really don't do them justice, they are all pretty cute.  The light blue one is really tiffany blue and she sparkles!  The others are a lime green with green, orange and pink striped bikini tops.


Finally, I stayed up WAY tooooo late finishing up my Monthly Newsletters.  I send home Weekly Newsletters with my homework, but they look basically like this.  Many of the teachers at my school have asked for a copy, so I made these.  They are editable, so you can even e-mail them!

This Little Piggy is planning on hitting up Office Max's Back-to-School Sale this week!  

Anyone else?

Clipart & Coffee Talk with Whimsy Workshop

Hopefully, everyone has recovered from all of the activities from July 4th.

Join me today for Clipart and Coffee Talk with the sweet, Susanna from Whimsy Workshop Graphics.  

I found Susanna when her Spring Flower Clipart was featured in the TpT Newsletter(hint: it's free, go get it).  I love her doodle style.  I also love that little blue birdie in her logo.    

I'm from Vancouver Canada. I'm only about an hour from the US border, so we've made lots of trips to the US with the family. What I like is that up here it's rainy and stays green in winter, and the summer is full of the beach and summer festivals! People here are definitely very relaxed and outdoorsy!

I used to do more traditional artwork and graphics - painting, printmaking, and sculpture. I worked under a lovely local impressionist painter named Ron Hedrick (rhedrick.com) for years, but had to stop when my husband's mother passed away suddenly and we became full time caretakers for my father in law who has dementia. If any of you have been through this, it's quite heart wrenching. One day I said "We need more whimsy in our lives right now!" I began drawing cute little animals to cheer my kids up, started using them in my school printables, and when teachers started asking me to share them, Whimsy Workshop was born! My goal is to make clip art that is functional and engaging, but also makes your heart smile a bit when you see it!

I think it's similar to what musicians must feel when they hear their song on the radio for the first time! I'm honored and so happy to share my little creations!

Susanna is going make someone VERY Happy! 

She wants to give 1 Lucky Winner, 2 Great Prizes!

First, you'll get her Back to School Supplies and Kids Pack

Plus, you'll get Winner's Choice!  

I would definitely pick the 3 Little Pigs Bundle, but you can choose anything you want:)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This Little Piggy can't wait for the Hill Country!

Friday Linky Parties:)

It's Friday, let's LINKY!

The infamous Cara Carroll at First Grade Parade is having a Pinterest Linky.  

My Pinterest Boards (<<<follow me here) are filling up with Back to School Stuff, Organization and Ocean/Sea Stuff for my Mermaid theme. 

Back to School:

These are from The Brown Bag Teacher - genre posters...so cute!

These are teacher gifts and/or you could use it to contain pencils in your classroom.

It's from Glue Sticks and Tape.

These are cereal boxes that the Naptime Decorator turned intostorage...how cute!  

I bought my wrapping paper and we've got cereal boxes coming out of my ears. Perfect.  

I plan on making a spot for paper, my emergency folder and perhaps for extra homework packets:)  

I might cover the corners/creases with duct tape prior to wrapping for strength.

This pic doesn't link back to anyone:(  

I like the lamp.  I saw a teal lamp at Dollar General (of all places). 

I think I am going back to get it and I'm going to look for a

 white lampshade that I'll paint with green chevron!  CUTE!

I had 1 lamp last year and honestly I love lamps in my classroom vs. fluorescent light!

I say this alllllll the time to my kiddos.  Time to make a poster! 

Technology Rocks Seriously, is a treasure trove of posters and printables (FREEEEEE).  

Go grab some!

FOOD:

Nutella Stuffed Chocolate-Chip Cookies with Salt!  YUM!  

From The Cooking Actress.

I'm making this for our Lakeside July 4th Celebration this weekend, compliments of This is My Key West.

Easy Tiramisu (no clue if this works...but I'm willing to try Kitchen Nostalgia's Recipe.).

There is another Linky I'd like to join in on. Polka-Dot Lesson Plans is having a Team Teacher Tips Linky.  Most of my teaching career I've been departmentalized.  I prefer it, but it's a personal decision.  This is her first linky and I thought some of my Upper Elementary Friends could link up, too!   

 In my school we teach on 3-people teams (due to #'s) and we are departmentalized 1st - 5th Grade.  I've been on 5 different teams in my 10 years of teaching.  1 of those was an awesome 3-person team (we've been together 2 years now).  I haven't blogged about this yet, but I have been teaching with my perfect teaching partner for 3 years now.  This year she's in a new position and I'm TERRIFIED of who will replace her.  We fit perfectly together and we're total OPPOSITES in every sense of the word.   

Tip #1: Use your strengths.  If you're creative, help the other people decorate their room.  If your counter-part is organized, let them help you put together the team's teacher binder.  

Tip #2: Let it be known to parents that if they are talking to one of you, they are talking to all of you.  

Tip #3:  We use a clipchart to track student behavior.  Each teacher has the exact same clipchart and uses it daily.  Find a system that works for your team and use it religiously.  Planners/Calendars work well as parent communication.

Tip #4:  Scheduling.  Our schedule is made for us, so this isn't a big deal...but be on time when it's time to switch classes or let the other person know.  My team is easy going about it...most AREN'T.  

This Little Piggy has a cutie patootie Made-It Monday for you!  Can't Wait!

Coffee Talk with Cara Taylor

Happy July 4th!

Click on the Statue of Liberty to grab her...she's free at Cara's TpT Store!

The fireworks, the hot dogs the mosquito spray...who could ask for a better summer activity?  

Actually, we are spending the weekend at the lake and on the 4th we'll watch fireworks from our back porch patio.

Thank you for joining me for Clipart & Coffee Talk. 

Do you have bloggie or virtual friends that you are positive you'd get along with in real life?  Hum...do I hear a linky idea??  Today's clip artist I KNOW I'd be friends with in real life, Cara Taylor.  

I love her artwork and own a lot of her work.  Her talent is flat out awesome!  I love that she includes multi-cultural kids in her art work.  I don't know about your classroom, but mine is filled with kids of different skin colors.  Oh, and for all of my fellow Font-a-Holics...she's got amazing fonts (with heee-larious font names)!  

Muskegon, Michigan. I love living in West Michigan because I live so close to Lake Michigan...about 5 minutes! We have clean beaches that are beautiful and full of families that love this natural resource we're blessed to have.

My students definitely inspire me. I also like to make custom clip art for customers. This has began my quest of making character clip art. I have a series of Read Aloud Clip Art that really has made a lot of customers (and hopefully students) happy! If you're interested in custom clipart e-mail Cara, caraelizabethtraylor@gmail.com. 

My favorite clip art set is my Ultimate Read Aloud Clip Art Bundle which contains over 178 clip art images.  

It's a wonderful set for those that love read aloud time in their classroom; that's really my favorite time of the day, even for my fifth graders!  

Cara is very generous and puts all of her items 50% off for the first 48 hours.  Be sure to follow her store so you can grab great deals!

Cara's doing a wonderful giveaway and offering TWO of you the chance to win this ENORMOUS CLIPART BUNDLE!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This Little Piggy's going to smell of OFF for the next few days, sorry hubby!